Canola meal is produced from the rapeseed plant, a relative of broccoli and mustard. Natural rapeseed contains glucosinolates, which make feed unpalatable, and erucic acid, which is toxic to animals. These anti-nutritional factors are heat-stable, and therefore, cannot be removed by heat-treating rapeseed. Rapeseed, which is low in both glucosinolates and erucic acid, has been produced by hybridization, and is called canola in Canada and the United States and 00-rapeseed in Europe. Oil can be removed from canola and rapeseeds via solvent extraction or mechanically expelling. The solvent extraction process results in production of canola meal or 00-rapeseed meal and mechanical expelling of oil results in production of canola expellers or 00-rapeseed expellers.

The objective of this study was to compare the chemical compositions of canola meal from North America and 00-rapeseed meal from Europe and to compare the composition of 00-rapeseed meal and 00-rapeseed expellers. Ten samples of canola meal were collected from crushing plants in North America, and eleven samples of 00-rapeseed meal and five samples of 00-rapeseed expellers were collected from crushing plants in Europe. The samples were analyzed for energy, fat, sugar, starch, fiber, crude protein, amino acids, and minerals.